Netanyahu praises Israeli navy for deadly Gaza flotilla raid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday praised the Navy unit that was involved in the deadly interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in late May, dpa reported.

Netanyahu said during a visit to a military base in Atlit on the Mediterranean coast that the soldiers had acted "heroically" during a confrontation aboard one of the vessels, the Turkish Mavi Marmara.

Nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed during the incident. Both sides have blamed each other as being responsible for the bloodshed.

International outcry over the raid eventually led Israel to ease its four-year-old blockade on the Gaza Strip.

"Gaza has become an Iranian terror base that endangers the state of Israel," Netanyahu was quoted as saying Tuesday by his office. "It is very close to us and very dangerous."

The deployment of the Shayetet 13 naval commando unit was "indispensable, necessary, important and legal," he went on to say.

"You fighters had to deal with one of the groups supporting the terror that was violent, armed with knives, clubs, electrical saws and firearms," Netanyahu told the naval officers.

Given the deadly threat, the soldiers acted "professionally, heroically, cautiously, ethically," he added.